Day 40 – Longboat Key to Sanibel Island

The day started with a walk around the marina before we checked out and got on our way to Sanibel Island at 9:25 am.  The day was mostly sunny and warm.  Downtown Sarasota was on our left to the east, and large homes and condos were on our right, to the west. The stunning purple colored building is the Van Wezel Theatre of Performing Arts.  Sarasota is known as the winter home of the Barnum & Bailey Ringling Brothers Circus and there is a circus museum here.  In addition, John Ringling had a huge mansion on the water here.

 

 

 
Siesta Key was next on the ICW, and we saw kayakers and more American White Pelicans.  There was one beautiful home after the other with a few condos sprinkled in.  Behind us was another boat from Chicago, the Christy B.  The Sarasota City Marine Preserve was to the west.  Lots of net fishermen were in this area.  We approached a swing bridge that we needed to call to open for us.  Soon we saw a drawbridge that also needs to open.  There are more bridges on the ICW, and with all the boat traffic we know it will be slow so at Venice we went through an inlet to the Gulf.

 

 

 

 

 

Once on the Gulf, we went by Manasota Key and Boca Grande.  Near Fort Meyers, we took an inlet back to the ICW.  Cabbage Key was now to the west.  We saw several homes on stilts in the water to the east.  There are many shallow areas here and Captain Randy got a little distracted following a small boat.  He soon realized that he was out of the channel (by about 40 feet) and about to go aground.  He stooped and backed up to get back in the channel.

 

The entrance to Sanibel Island Marina, the only marina on the island, is narrow and shallow as well.  The north side is a sea wall and the south side is a small shoal/“beach.”  We arrived at the marina at 3:30 pm.  The slips have fixed docks with poles, but the finger piers are long and we got in with no problems.

Dinner was at Grandma Dot’s, a popular restaurant right in the marina.  We had excellent shrimp and grouper meals.   We are planning to take the boat to Naples tomorrow, weather permitting, before we leave for a couple of days to drive to Homestead and then Islamorada to visit friends for Christmas.